Two and three storey brick storefronts line College Street under striped awnings, cafes and trattorias at street level.
What Little Italy looks like
The TTC's 506 streetcar runs along College Street between Bathurst Street and Ossington Avenue, the stretch most people mean by Little Italy. Two and three storey buildings line both sides, brick storefronts divided into evenly spaced bays at street level, with apartments or storage space above. Striped awnings and sidewalk tables run along several blocks, overhead wires strung above the tracks. The wider neighbourhood runs north from the strip to Bloor Street and west to Dovercourt Road, the same two and three storey pattern continuing on those side streets.
The still has its 1930s marquee over the sidewalk near Clinton Street, a narrow brick front with lit signage down its length. 's patio sits on the opposite corner at Clinton, tables set close to the curb under the wires. The occupies a single storefront bay farther west toward Ossington, its own awning stretched over a handful of tables.
The side streets running north and south off College are lined with semi-detached and detached houses built in the early twentieth century, set back behind small front yards and low fences. Porches and bay windows repeat down these blocks, the brick plainer than the storefronts on the strip itself.
Shot in Little Italy
The CW series Beauty and the Beast used the corner of College Street and Markham Street as a New York City street in December 2013 and 2014. The Hulu series The Testaments filmed a scene for June and Daisy outside Cafe Diplomatico, a few blocks west on the same strip.
Beauty and the Beast
College and Markham. The CW series shot the corner as an ordinary New York City street, no redress documented beyond the choice of block.
Beauty and the Beast, 2012
Played New York City, present day
The CW series Beauty and the Beast used this corner as a New York City street in December 2013 and 2014. The building is the former Pedlar People warehouse, now Snakes and Lattes. Street View
The Testaments, 2026
Cafe Diplomatico
The Hulu series The Testaments filmed a scene between June and Daisy at Cafe Diplomatico. The cafe keeps its exterior and patio today, on the same College and Clinton corner the production used. Street View
Lygon Street in Carlton has the same two storey brick shopfronts, striped awnings and sidewalk tables as College Street, with Italian cafes on several corners. A search for an Italian strip with striped awnings turns up Lygon Street's own addresses alongside Toronto's. Lygon Street's verandahs project further over the footpath and its facades run to painted render rather than exposed brick, so a tight frame on the awning line reads better than a wide shot of the whole block. Try searching Italian strip with striped awnings now.
Commercial Drive runs through Vancouver's own Little Italy with the same two and three storey brick storefronts, awnings and patio seating along a single commercial strip. A narrow retail strip with patios describes both streets, down to similar storefront widths left over from the streetcar era. Commercial Drive sits on a wider, flatter street with mountains visible at the end of some blocks, so frames held tight to the sidewalk keep the background out. Try searching narrow retail strip with patios now.
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